Leading by 1.1 shots overnight, the Warrnambool Golf Club team of Luke and Matthew Wines, Ross Corbett, Tom Batten and Eynesbury Professional Ben Ford had a nett score of 17.3-under par on Wednesday for a two-round total of 37.6-under par.

Their lead is just 0.2 of a shot from the Kooindah Waters team of Jordan Deeble, Lee Moore, Dean Smith, Mitchell McDonald and Toukley Golf Club Professional Mitchell Brown, who could only manage a par on their final hole at the par-5 10th in Round 2.

Less than five shots separates all 10 teams who made the two-round cut, setting the stage for an enthralling third and final round at Sanctuary Cove’s The Palms Course on Thursday.

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As their playing days for the North Warrnambool Eagles draw to a close, the Warrnambool boys have turned to golf. They are now the envy of their mates as they close in on Championship Final victory at their first attempt.

“We’ve had a few mates who have actually come up here a few years back,” said Matthew Wines.

“The three of us are only 12 months into playing golf. We only started around December last year so this is our first real golf trip.”

Although more confident off the tee in their second look at The Palms Course, Warrnambool were somewhat slow out of the blocks.

They were 4-under through seven holes courtesy of a nett albatross at the par-5 14th but picked up 6.3 shots in their final five holes to post a number, closing out with a nett eagle on the par-5 10th.

“We had to take Tommy’s drive and he smacked it down there to about 205 to the flag,” said Ford.

“We had to take it no matter what and then our highest handicapper pulls out a hybrid from nowhere, hits it to about 25 feet and then sinks the putt.

“We went nuts. We needed that one.”

Kooindah Waters needed a birdie on their final hole – the par-5 10th – to snatch the lead but had to settle for a par despite being 190 metres out hitting their second.

It was a disappointing finish for a team that was 12.2-under par through nine holes.

“It would’ve been nice to close it out with a birdie,” admitted PGA Professional Mitchell Brown.

“Yesterday we holed a lot of long putts – we holed three bombs yesterday – but today we were just in that mid-range and didn’t really make any of those.”

Lithgow Golf Club played their way into the final round with the low round of the day on Wednesday.

The team of Brandan Horner, Glenn Piggott, Harrison Bender, Nathan Mitchell and PGA Professional Gavin MacPherson combined for a nett score of 20.6-under par to climb into seventh position, less than four shots off the lead.

The final round begins at 8am AEST on Thursday with Tour players Michael Sim and Cassie Porter to join the teams as they strive for Scramble Championship glory.